Serial fraudster Susan Reed pleads guilty to defrauding the National Disability Insurance Agency

A Hunter serial fraudster had admitted to more fraud charges, this time recruiting four women to help her falsely receive disability funding.

Susan Reed is facing more fraud charges. Picture: Robert McKell

A Hunter serial fraudster is at it again, this time recruiting four women to help her falsely receive disability funding, off the back of false claims her everyday living was significantly hampered by Parkinson’s disease.

Well known scammer Susan Diane Reed, 67, was jailed for three years in December last year after she was found to have duped a victim – a recent widow – out of $120,000.

The Maitland pensioner took out an ad in the paper in 2017 describing herself as a “lonely lady, looking for companionship” before a court heard she spun a web of lies to the 74-year-old man.

The court heard the 67-year-old had committed fraud offences for more than four decades.

In Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday, Reed appeared via video link in custody as she pleaded guilty to charges of dishonestly intending to obtain a gain and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Although Reed’s solicitor Mark Ramsland said they agreed to the facts, Magistrate Caleb Franklin declined for the facts to be handed up after being informed there were “slight changes” to be made.

Susan Reed leaving Newcastle Court in 2004. Picture: Robert McKell

Police facts will allege as the result of an unrelated investigation, police stumbled upon Reed’s fraudulent activity when she was found to be receiving regular fortnightly payments by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) over an 18 month period between August 2019 and February 2021.

It was found she had recruited four women from across the Hunter to help her falsify claims under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Police facts allege she placed an ad on Gumtree for cleaners and told them they would be “paid for more hours than they would work”, or that she needed to use her NDIS funding before it expired.

She asked them to create false invoices saying they had provided up to 16 hours of care to her each day over fortnightly periods, including weekends and public holidays.

Police facts also alleged Reed was involved in a number of false invoices totalling almost $400,000, where she pocketed more than $200,000, while the rest went to the cleaners for remuneration.

Court documents also said the basis for her successful NDIS ‘plan’ which was granted in 2018, and subsequent plans, was that she suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

Reed appeared via AVL in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday. Picture: Amy Ziniak

Police will allege she made claims that she had tremors that affected everyday living, she couldn’t drive or catch public transport, and if she cooked or cleaned she would cut and burn herself, according

By the time of her arrest in February 2021 she had used her NDIS ‘plans’ to claim disability support of more than $500,000, according to court documents.

In an interview with police, police will allege two of the four cleaners told investigators Reed drove, did her own shopping and even made her own bed.

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Court documents said police will also allege they observed emails between Reed and one of the women following a dispute which read, “ur not even disabled or have diabetes, ur fridge is full of soft drink and I’m telling them u drive (sic)”.

On Wednesday, the court heard these matters would join up with other charges she was already set to be sentenced for in the district court, which also related to the NDIS fraud.

In April, she pleaded guilty to one charge of dishonestly intending to obtain a gain and dealing with the proceedings of crime, while 18 other charges were dismissed.

Reed will next head to Newcastle District Court on November 11.